Dormant: Elsa's Story
by E.V. Black
Summary: We were enamored by the story of one sister, Anna, attempting to reconnect with her older sister, Elsa, on Elsa's coronation day. We see Anna's thoughts, feelings, and heart come alive on-screen. What about Elsa? This story details the events in Frozen from Elsa's perspective, plus a few original, invented events.
1. Prologue

Prologue

In that country, in that season, the winters were particularly mean. When it snowed, it was not the gentle sprinklings of some regions nor the moderate layers of others. No, it snowed full-force, snow slapping into one's body and bruising it from the sheer force, wind whipping and roaring around building corners and speeding through open glens and courtyards. A storm was a monster there, in Arendelle, one that none of its citizens could escape. They bore it as a normal day, instinctively hunching down in their heavily fur-trimmed coats. Only their eyes, bright and warm, thawed through the darkness and despair of Arendelle's cold days and frigid nights. Then, when those mean storms had exhausted themselves, the wind's roar faded into a dull murmur and crackles of sunlight hinted from above a gray sheet of clouds blanketing the winter sky. Most beautiful was when a winter daybreak resulted from those frigid winter nights. The clouds would part, making way for the royalty that was the sun, which broke into prismatic colors, first cool from the evening and second warm from the sun's radiance, over the winter sky. Fields of colors rippled as the sun ascended into its noble position, slowly proceeding past the clouds, past the early morning birds, past even the sparkling stars, which bowed and dimmed in the sunlight and eventually disappeared into the rainbow of color, and finally positioning itself in the now robin's egg blue sky. Then, those harsh winters didn't seem so cruel, not entirely. It was those very sunrises that a young girl often watched.

She lived in that country of Arendelle. Indeed, she was one of citizens. She had blonde hair, bordering on white, and blue eyes reminiscent of ice reflecting the cool, winter sky. Like all the other inhabitants, she had fair skin resulting from how little sunlight the region received. Most importantly of note was the sweet and secretive smile that often lingered upon her pale pink lips. The girl's name was Elsa. She would have been considered quite ordinary if it were not for two things. The first fact was that Elsa was a princess. Elsa was the firstborn child of King Adgar and Queen Idun of Arendelle. Elsa was named in honor of her long-deceased paternal grandmother, Elspeth. Queen Elspeth was Arendelle's greatest and most honored ruler, since Olaf Kartsky, the first king of Arendelle, reigned. Elspeth improved trading and political tensions between Arendelle and the Northern Isles; coerced Arendelle from a simmering war between the mountain peoples, the Samee, and the ocean peoples, the Cartew; bettered living and working conditions for the citizens of Arendelle; among many other accomplishments. Naturally, the namesake lingered in Elsa's parents' minds during the queen's pregnancy. Upon her birth, Elsa's name was regarded by all to be the loveliest name to grace the ears of any person who heard it.

The second fact was that Elsa had magical powers over ice and snow. When Elsa was born, a soft burst of white light exploded above the infant and her royal mother. Ensuing, a gentle tumble of flurries wafted down from the ceiling and sprinkled onto mother and newborn daughter. Immediately, Elsa's parents knew that their firstborn daughter was no ordinary girl, much less a common princess. Queen Idun and King Adgar were worried at first, but the king consoled his wife.

"We don't know anything, my love. It could be a blessing, not a curse."

"We do not know: that is what troubles me. What if it becomes...something? What if she is...is evil?"

Queen Idun slammed her eyes shut. King Adgar wrapped his arms around his consort and embraced her tightly. "She won't be. I promise you." He pulled away from her and held her by the shoulders firmly. His eyes seared straight into hers. "She won't be, because we will teach her go be good and kind and to see her fellow man as friend."

With that, the king pecked the queen's forehead; the queen, who trembled from her fear, relaxed into her love's body. From there on, King Adgar and Queen Idun raised their first daughter with great caution. They constantly helicoptered about her, watching their baby's every move. For a year, nothing happened, and Elsa's parents started to believe the flurries upon her birth day had only been an exaggeration resulting from overactive imaginations. Their worries, beginning to slack, would not be appeased. Upon Elsa's second birthday, a remarkable event occurred. It was the official start of winter, the farewell to the autumn festival having been the preceding day. Little Elsa, now a toddler, was awake early on the day of her birthday. Though she couldn't speak or read clocks, little Elsa felt it was her day. She remembered the clean, sure promise of snow in the air from her first birthday. Elsa idly played with her toes, pretending to count them the way she had seen her father counting out dellians, Arendelle's coin currency. Quickly, little Elsa grew bored of her task and lifted herself into a standing position. Her chubby hands grasped the pole railings of her crib and pulled her body up with all the strength she could muster. With that done, Elsa glanced around and examined her nursery. The gentle light of dawn was beginning to trickle like cold mountain water through the heavy curtains that lined her windows.

The little baby stared out past the large crack in the curtains. The heavy shroud of gray clouds tinged the early morning sky with a deathly pallor. The clouds cast a solemn aura over the kingdom of Arendelle. No wind stirred neither tree nor shrub. No creature moved, though many were surely awake. Even the birds, who signal the beginning of the day with their lovely songs, gingerly stirred in their nests but said nothing. It was the night following a thick snow. The world was a sweet cake, its sponginess coated in thickly glazed vanilla icing dusted with the singular sparkles of each shimmering snowflake. The figures and forms underneath the snow appeared unreal, like the decorations atop a cake. The houses were still, the people within them unmoving in their early morning stupor. The world held its breath. The gray clouds above Arendelle were tinged with the familiar warm hues of a sunrise: baked orange, golden yellow, blushing rose, and flaming scarlet. They ringed the edges of the clouds, growing ever more passionately with each moment until the sky was on fire with the sun's brilliance. Then, the world seemed to sigh and the clouds parted. The clouds revealed the sun, a dazzling diamond glinting through the clouds' roughness. The sun's demure rays caressed the snowflakes upon the ground and awakened them into their sparkling state. It was breathtaking, for everywhere the sun touched the ground twinkled with the beauty of billions of tiny stars.

Elsa smiled to herself and a feeling of cool warmth drifted down her delicate baby spine. The coolness spiraled from her bones into her nerves, her muscles, and her arteries. It pumped through, back to front, and straight into her heart. From her heart, the coolness travelled through her body into her shoulders, arms, and hands. As Elsa touched the bars of her wooden crib, frost spiraled out from under the touch of her palms and fingertips. Little Elsa glanced down at her pudgy hands and lifted them to her eyes. Curious, she stuck entire right hand into her mouth. Instantly, the little girl felt the coolness of the force that had emanated from her hands only moments ago. Elsa jerked the suspected hand from her mouth and gave it a scathing scrutiny. The hand dripped with her own saliva. As before, the coolness coursed through her body and pumped into her palm. Underneath her scrutiny, the spittle upon her hand froze into a fragile, dripping puddle. Instantly, little Elsa beamed at her hand and raucously giggled. This strange new power was fun!

Elsa stared at her hand for some time. Meanwhile, the sun had continued to rise. Her room illuminated and glowed from the soft golden sunlight that peered in through her curtains. Elsa tipped her hand back and forth, watching the tiny puddle tip this way and that way, until she finally twisted her hand over and dumped the iced saliva onto the wooden floor. Little Elsa drummed the crib's bars with her tiny, pale hands until she beamed at a better idea. The toddler princess threw her hands up towards the ceiling and squeezed her eyes shut. Though she was only young, Elsa tuned into the miniscule details of the cold pulsing through her tiny frame. Her power over the cold misted from her body and formed into a wispy cloud overhanging her nursery. Somehow, she felt the cold form into the cloud, and she squeezed her eyes shut harder, wiling the cloud to form further. The wispy cloud fattened and sprinkled small snow flurries onto her floor. Upon touching the lukewarm floor of her nursery, the snow flurries remained intact. Elsa's eyes flew open and the little princess laughed boisterously in joy. She clapped her hands together. A door slammed somewhere in the castle, soon followed by the rapid thumping of two pairs of feet quickly proceeding towards Elsa's nursery. The nursery door flew open with a whoosh, disturbing the gentle falling of Elsa's flurries. In the doorway stood a panicked king and queen, clad in their bed wear and robes hastily thrown over their bed wear. Their eyes widened at the scene before them.

Elsa's flurries quickly accumulated upon the nursery floor, forming a slight blanket of unmelted snow. The princess's toys peaked out from underneath the layer of snow. Their eyes flicked to the snow cloud, to the snowy floor, and to their daughter. With a desperate look at each other, the king and queen slowly treaded through the snow and to their daughter. The queen scooped her royal daughter into her arms and held her tight against her. Pleased, Elsa wrapped her arms around her mother, oblivious to the shaking woman beneath her. Elsa continued to be enamored with the wonderful scene about her. Before long, the snow drifted to a stop and disappeared into nothingness. The king and queen were both relaxed and worried. For them, it was merely the beginning of something bigger.

Much older then, a three-year-old Elsa was looking down upon the same view as when she was a toddler. Unlike the view in the season of her birthday, this scene was much different, because it was the first day of summer. Instead of a light sheen of snow, there was a luscious carpet of verdant grass running from the castle meadow and up into the mountains. Flowers introduced themselves here and there, gently nodding their assent to her in the early morning breeze. King Adgar told Elsa to not open her window, but she could not resist. Elsa opened her triangular window the teeniest crack, just to feel that warm breeze wash over her. In that breeze was the warmth of her mother's hugs and the freedom of her father carrying her on his back. Elsa closed her eyes and drank in the subtle and sweet perfume of slowly awakening flowers, which tilted their heads towards the rising sun. The sun glinted through the center of her window, which was sharply angled at either end. The flat end of the window was where Elsa currently sat, while the other end—the sharp point—ended at the edge of her bedroom's ceiling. The longing to explore and peruse through the flowers filled Elsa. Still, she stayed where she was. It was silent for a few seconds before the sound of a woman in pain resounded throughout the halls. The gentle murmur of her father's voice and maidservants' high and low twitters drifted past her room. There was nothing panicked in King Adgar's tone, merely worry, and for good reason. It was a beautiful morning, for the beautiful beginning of a beautiful new life.

Queen Idun was with child, and they made the revelation that past September. Elsa remembered the day when her parents pulled her aside after dinner one evening. The last days of summer were settling in the midst of autumn's cool breath. As such, leaves were already beginning to fall in the last rays of the setting sun. Her parents walked two-year-old Elsa through the palace gardens until they stopped in front of a fountain. Her father bent down to her and whispered of a secret, and both parents told her. It was a kind of magic, they said, something miraculous. A mother and father brought new life into the world, which was how Elsa was created. It was a special kind of magic, brought about only by the truest of love. Their magic had created another, a sibling for Elsa, and Elsa was excited, because she would have someone with which to play. Elsa did get out and meet some of the local people, children included, but many of them were too shy to speak to her. Her royal status intimidated many of them, leaving her alone and lonely. Elsa had to content with amusing herself.

The child conceived in the late summer was born in the early summer. Excited murmurings filled the palace, but Elsa remained in her room. She had been told by King Adgar to stay there until she was summoned by him.

"The next few hours will be hard," her father told her. Adgar knelt down in front of her, his mature eyes peering into her equally mature ones. "Your mother will be in great pain."

"Why, Papa?" Elsa asked so simply.

Adgar took a breath, thinking of telling her a white lie. However, he knew Elsa was old enough to hear truth. "Remember the magic we told you about all those months ago?" Elsa nodded. Adgar continued. "Some magic is painful—" Quickly, the king's mind flashed to his daughter's hands, and he vividly remembered Elsa's first birthday, her casting of snow within her nursery. Adgar forced the image from his mind and focused on the present. "Some is painful—and some is beautiful. Some magic is both, but sometimes pain must come before beauty or…love."

Elsa scrunched up her face. "But why would magic be painful and beautiful? Why would love be painful?"

Adgar rested his hands upon his young daughter's small shoulders. His warm green-hazel eyes stared through her cool blue pools. The moment between them only lasted a few seconds, but Adgar felt suspended in the temporary winter that was Elsa's eyes. Snowflakes and delicate frost patterns spiraled throughout her iris, branching and twisting into the unique beauty of her eyes. "Elsa, I will tell you now that life is not always content. There are often instances in life that pull us hither and thither, sometimes but not always resulting in pain. That pain allows us to better savor our past and make a better, more beautiful future. Sometimes beauty blossoms without us trying, but we must try regardless." He paused to breathe, squinting his eyes in thought. Elsa was staring at him, though not at him; the little princess was thinking very hard about her father's answer. Much of it was hard for her to process, but she felt she understood the overall message. "Do you understand?" he asked her.

Hesitantly, Elsa glanced away and nodded, then once more met her father's eyes. "I think I do."

King Adgar smiled warmly at his only daughter. "Don't think too hard, dear. You still have need of that pretty head." He reached in and squeezed the pink tip of Elsa's nose.

Elsa responded with a surprised and delighted giggle. "You're silly, Papa!"

Adgar grinned and sluggishly straightened himself out. The muscles of his back luxuriously stretched out, something he found he needed as he aged. The king rested his hand atop the princess's white blonde head. "Stay here in your room. I will let you know when you can visit your mother."

As he turned to leave, Elsa nodded at his back. "I will, Papa."

Then, it was many hours ago in the early hours of the dark morning. Elsa remembered still being able to spy the stars in the black-blue velvet expanse of the night sky. Gradually, little Elsa observed the seeping of the sun's warmth into the cold night, and she profoundly admired the beauty of dawn. The world seemed to deeply inhale and exhale happily—or so she imagined—because the birds burst into song as soon as the sunlight touched the green grass and painted the sky with its warmth. The night retreated into the shadows of trees and pushes, awaiting its turn for another couple of hours. During this time, Elsa had picked up a picture book to peruse; however, she found herself much too restless to concentrate upon its colorful pictures. Instead, she gazed outside at the window, daring to open the window the slightest crack. The door to her expansive room creaked open. Elsa turned to view her visitor.

A mildly disheveled King Adgar stood in Elsa's doorway, nervously wringing his hands. Elsa's book slipped from her hands as she jerked up from her window seat. "Papa! Papa, is Mama alright?"

Adgar emerged from the darkness of Elsa's doorway. The bright morning sunlight revealed his even brighter smile. There was such contagious happiness in Adgar's smile, that Elsa too was soon smiling, although she didn't know why. Adgar took a few galumphing strides over to Elsa, scooped her up into his arms, and gleefully spun her around until both their heads were spinning. When they stopped, Elsa giggled, "Papa, what is it?"

Adgar kissed his daughter on the cheek and murmured, "Your mama has brought a wonderful gift into this world."

"You mean…the magic?"

Adgar nodded. "The magic. You have a sister."

In Elsa's eyes, time screeched to a halt. Her heart skipped into a passive beat, drumming to the rhythm of the pause between her and her father. Her world suddenly changed, and her mind knew something beyond her childish view. She would never again be the same Elsa. Exhilaration filled her and a readiness to love trembled beneath her tender flesh. She would never be alone again in the palace. For children, adults are decent company but those of their own age range are better equipped to understand their thoughts. An aching loneliness had long been filling Elsa, despite all the people who tended to her and surrounded her every moment of her day. To truly know someone was much different from seeing them and idle prattling.

Elsa's arms curled around her father's neck and squeezed him into a sweet hug. "May I see her?"

Elsa felt, more than saw, her father smile. It was more than the reaction he had been expecting from his previously only daughter. "Of course. Let us see her together."

With that, Adgar cuddled his daughter's tiny and warm body close to his own and easily strolled out from Elsa's room. Adgar entered the hallway and began to traverse the palace halls. Elsa knew there was no rush, but she willed her father to go faster. Each moment sent Elsa's tiny blonde braid thumping against her shoulder and caused her light blue nightgown to flutter in the breeze. Her heart raced in anticipation of what she was to see. Achingly, they were there outside of her parents' room. Maidservants and a midwife flittered into and out of the room. They all murmured seriously and excitedly amongst themselves. Once the royal father and daughter appeared, they parted to allow them access to the room. Her father stopped at the midwife. "How is she?"

The midwife, an elderly woman, smiled, and the wrinkles around her eyes and cheeks brought to life her good humor. "Which one, Your Majesty?"

King Adgar laughed good-naturedly. "Both."

"Well and healthy." The midwife motioned towards the room. "They have been waiting for you."

Elsa's young heart tightly clenched and her lungs seized as her father and she entered the room. Hours ago, it must have been dark and terribly lonely as her mother bore her second daughter. Shadows still lingered in the edges of room, that slice of night that never left. However, light permeated every possible surface within the room. The room's curtains were slightly drawn, so a few bars of sunlight sneaked in from outside. The sunlight that did enter was bright and golden as the first days of summer. Golden sunlight gilded the walls, the carpet, and the canopy bed in which Queen Idun sat. The queen's dark brown hair cascaded down around her. Some of her hair was plastered to her skin by dried sweat, evidence of her recent labor. The dark blue blankets were pulled up to her waist, but Elsa was still able to see the white nightgown her mother wore. Morning sunlight fell upon the queen and outlined her in a soft, ethereal white-gold light. The light highlighted the warmth of her hair and her peaceful expression. The queen smiled sweetly and contentedly down at a bundle in her arms. Elsa thought her mother looked like an angel. For the first time, Elsa's eyes wandering to the bundle in her mother's arms. Elsa knew that the fruit of her mother's labor lay swaddled the bundle of rose-colored blankets in her mother's arms. Queen Idun stroked one end of the bundle and kissed it. Though her eyes were downcast, there was utter peace and love apparent in her demure blue eyes. Then, those eyes cast up to see her daughter and her husband, and the queen's smile became ever brighter. With a free hand, Idun motioned for Elsa and Adgar to come closer.

Quietly, Adgar crept closer to where his wife lay. He tightened his arms around Elsa, lifted her, and lowered her onto the bed. Meanwhile, Elsa was filled with awe as she watched both her mother and the strange bundle lying in her mother's arms. The princess's breaths slowed. Her mother lowered the bundle for Elsa to get a better look. Gradually, Elsa crawled across the sheets and to her mother. Once again, the world turned to gelatin and Elsa froze in place as she saw what was within the rose-colored baby blankets. A chubby face, with eyes closed in first slumber, greeted her from between the mounds of blankets. The infant's cheeks and nose were pink with life, though pale from lack of sun exposure. A tuft of strawberry-blond hair poked out from atop the infant's head. Elsa remembered that the infant was a girl, her new sister, and she tilted her head up to peer at her mother.

"What's her name, Mama?" Elsa whispered.

Idun hummed in happiness. "Anna."

"Anna…" Elsa tasted the name in her mouth. At first, it was strange and didn't seem to fit this unknown and tiny human being within Idun's arms. "Anna."

At the mention of her name, tiny Anna stirred and opened her eyes. The infant blinked a few times, gazing up with summer sky blue eyes at the large girl staring down at her. Ice blue met summer blue in a clash of season eyes. Anna's lips burst into a huge smile and the infant unwedged her arms form underneath her rose blankets. With those arms, Anna reached up towards Elsa. Elsa blinked in surprise but smiled. Body trembling once more, Elsa reached out her small hand to touch even smaller hands. Their hands touched and Elsa fell into a solidified love that dropped straight down from the sky and broke open in her soul. After many minutes of touching hands, Elsa leaned in and kissed Anna all over the face. Little Anna giggled and gleefully grabbed at Elsa's petite nose. Elsa tinkled a soft laugh in response. Queen Idun looked between her two daughters and her husband, and King Adgar did much the same. It was looking like the two girls were going to be inseparable.


	2. Chapter 1: Snow Flurries

Chapter 1

Snow Flurries

A young girl watched the horizon and the sun that peaked from over its edge. She watched as the noble sun ascended into the sky, and she noted the way everything paled in comparison to the sun's brilliance. Wherever the sun's rays touched, the light made that particular location or those particular things ethereally gorgeous. The young girl, her name Elsa, exhaled onto the glass of her window. The fog of her breath stayed on the glass. Elsa lifted a finger to draw a snowflake into the miniscule patch of fog. The action of finger rubbing against the glass emitted a quiet squelch as the moisture of her exhalation underneath her fingertip.

The season was winter, the most brutal one Arendelle faced in a long time. In the night before, a blizzard had left the entire country weighed in tons of plush snow. Elsa remembered hearing the baying blasts, like violent hounds, pounding against the edges and niches of the well-fortified palaces; feeling the glacial temperature seep in through the cracks and holes, despite the safe fire crackling in her room's fireplace; and, most of all, sensing the familiar trickle of warm-cold react to the raging snowstorm outside the palace's walls. Elsa lay awake in her bed, eyes closed but just feeling her body pulse in time with the harsh winter winds and the stinging flurries. Each heartbeat of hers matched the pounding of the winds; each trickle of warm-cold increased with the feeling of the glacial temperatures seeping inside; and, more and more, that trickle increased until she lifted her eyelids and stared at the ceiling. She felt the raw power building up inside of her, and it made her restless. She did not know what to do with this power, which she had known since before she could remember. It was not strange to her, not then, because it was a part of her. Elsa did think it was strange that nobody else, especially her family, had powers like hers. In a way, it made her feel alone; however, it also made her feel extremely special, because it was a sweet secret she could savor upon her tongue and suck on for the longest time. Yet, she did not think she would ever tire of her power.

In her room, it was a quiet cemetery, save for the soft snoring of her younger sister, Anna. Anna lay in a soft pink bed, exactly across the room from hers. Since Elsa could consciously remember, Anna had always loved the color of pink. The young one always said that it reminded her of spring and summer, when the flowers would bloom a blushing, graceful magenta. Often, Anna remarked that Elsa's bed was much like the season of her own birth, winter. Indeed, Elsa thought so; her bed and its sheets were clad in a mature royal blue, reminiscent of a dark winter's night after snow has just fallen. Every fiber in Elsa's body connected with winter. It had begun with the day of her birth, the winter solstice, and continued with her power over ice and snow. From there, the feeling escalated in her semi-solitude concerning the limited knowledge of her power amongst the palace's residents. Only King Adgar and Queen Idun knew of Elsa's power, and they thought it wise to keep Anna in the dark. They weren't sure that two-year-old Anna would keep the secret or truly understand the breadth of Elsa's power. Of course, Elsa herself couldn't truly understand her power or their source. Because of Elsa's power's mysterious origin, the king and queen were naturally extremely wary and fearful of Elsa's growing potential. They were afraid that, as Elsa grew, the strength of her power would too. Though they never voiced this to Elsa, Elsa would see the concern ever present in their eyes as they watched her or overhear their conversations when they thought she was in bed.

One night Elsa could not sleep, for a strange dream had haunted her and awakened her from a deep slumber. Loathe going to her parents for comfort, five-year-old Elsa crept through the winding palace hallways towards the kitchen for a glass of chocolate milk. It was late into the night, and everybody was asleep—or so she thought. Elsa passed her parents' room and overheard voices. Immediately, her heart jumped into gear and thumped against her breastbone. Her breath stuttered and she snapped her eyes towards a crack in the room. Silent as a mouse, Elsa crept to the door's crack and peered into the room. The tension welled from her body when she saw that it was merely her parents conversing before they fell asleep.

"Sometimes I worry for her," Idun sighed. Elsa thought she was talking about Anna. What was wrong with her? "The entire world will be resting upon her shoulders one day. She will be growing up, and with that carrying a burden more powerful than any other."

Adgar rolled onto his side, his back to the door, to view his wife. "Idun, you're worrying needlessly." He reached out a hand and rested it upon her shoulder. "We don't know what the future has in store for us or for Elsa." Elsa did a double-take and instantly filled with regret. Still, she continued to listen. "She could become something great or terrible. We don't know what her power will become."

Idun slammed her eyes shut, a catch in her voice as she spoke. "That's the thing! What if she hurts herself? What if she hurts us? Or Anna? We can't wait around to just see—"

"We must," Adgar emphasized. "As I said, we do not know. Therefore, we must approach it with caution but act normally. If something happens to either of them—or, God forbid, somebody else—then we take action. We are there to protect our children."

It was at this point in time that Elsa retracted from the doorway and silently slid into the darkness. The desire for chocolate milk, and maybe even one of the cook's sugar cookies, dissipated from her mind. Walking bad to bed, Elsa had an acrid flavor in the back of her mouth. As children are apt to do (even the wisest of ones), Elsa did not consider the future. She did not consider that she could possibly hurt her parents or her little sister. Elsa viewed her powers with the rose-colored lens that accompanies childhood innocence. Now, some of that innocence had been scraped away, leaving Elsa slightly afraid. She realized that she couldn't talk to her parents about her newfound fear, for that would betray the fact that she had overheard their conversation. Nor could she go to Anna, who was too young to yet comprehend the import of Elsa's predicament. As Elsa strolled, she neared the door to her and Anna's room. Suddenly the young princess halted, fists rolled at her sides. She brought a hand up in front of her face, unfurled her fingers, felt the cool thaw of ice coursing through her veins, and created beautifully pointed snowflake in her hand.

This is mine, she tenaciously thought. This is fun, and I love it. I don't care what they're going to say. I love this. She bowed her head and breathed out slowly, watching the snowflake in her palm shrink before disappearing into a tiny burst of flurries. I'll try to be careful, I will. For Anna. For Mama and Papa. I don't want anybody to get hurt.

She remembered the thought as stubbornly and as strongly then as when it happened a month ago. Elsa closed her eyes for a moment before reopening them. She looked over at her little sister, cuddled up within her rose sheets and softly snoring. Elsa's blue eyes flashed down to her palm and she softly smiled. Elsa rolled to her side and, with a glance around her, held out her left palm open towards the ceiling. As moments before, Elsa felt the sweet cool-warmth of her power shift and crash over her moments preceding the explosion of a snowflake in her palm. The snowflake was the exact snowflake she had created that night a month ago. Now that she was able to study it, Elsa was filled with wonder. Her tutor taught her that no two snowflakes were alike, that they (akin to people) were all unique. Alas, Elsa was never able to study a snowflake up close because they sometimes melted upon her skin before she could view them. Other times, if she concentrated hard enough, Elsa could focus the cool-warmth into her skin and keep the snowflakes around. Elsa had become more adept at controlling her power over the few years she had been alive. In the days that it snowed—which was nearly daily for the northern country of Arendelle—Elsa practiced outside very readily. She extended the course of the cool-warmth, which she came to think of as her snow aura, throughout tiny parts of her body. The mental effort it took exhausted her, but she continued at it. If she was making a snowman with little Anna, Elsa would force herself to extend the flexibility of her power to her legs or her arms. After a day of snow playing, Elsa would end up more exhausted than she would have thought. Her parents merely thought that her exhaustion was due to her physical activity. In some parts it was; however, it also stemmed from her mental taxation from her power. As the months passed, Elsa found it easier and easier to broaden her snow aura to her entire body. At first, it was only for a short while, and then she started to feel the seeping cold creep into her body. The warming of the world, signaling the onset of spring, added to Elsa's challenge. Regardless, Elsa continued practicing and found that she could hold her snow aura for a few minutes, half hours, and, soon enough, hours. The warm weather provided her with difficulty, but Elsa became more in tune with her body.

Then, Elsa breathed and the snow aura came naturally, as a cascading river flowing downhill over stones well-polished by the river's course. She simply thought about it and it came to her. Elsa made the snowflake larger and smaller, examining it closely and dissecting the snowflake into smaller and larger snowflakes. Pricks and triangles stopped and started acutely here and there, breathtaking in their curving and straight angles and shapes. A thrill of joy filled Elsa, again thinking of her sweet secret and savoring it in her mouth. Bravely, Elsa swirled her hand around in the air. A winter breeze spiraled through the room, in time with the motion of her hand. Flurries rushed past the closed door and breezed over the top of Anna's head. Elsa snapped her hand back; the flurries immediately disappeared. Her eyes scrutinized the darkness of her sister's form, but Elsa detected only a small movement and a soft groan. Then, silence, and the continuing background noise of the blizzard outside. Through her nose, Elsa breathed a quiet sigh and smiled back down at her hand.

That was a close one, she thought, smiling thankfully.

After mentally resting for a few seconds, Elsa returned to playing with her power. She sent gusts of frost at their triangle window. Manipulating the formation of the frost, Elsa created pretty patterns of rosemaling, much like the rosemaling in their room's wallpaper; delicately veined leaves; strange and new flowers spurred from her imagination, their petals round, triangular, and curving; and spikes of pine needles sprouting from the window's dagger corners. Entranced by her power, Elsa threw back her covers from her body and surreptitiously placed her tiny feet onto the cold hardwood floor. She lifted her body from her toasty bed and shuffled quietly, across the hardwood and onto their rosemaled carpet, to the window seat. She was smiling so brightly, causing thrills to further chill her snow aura. Elsa shivered in happiness and sank down into the mushy cushion of the window seat. For at least an hour, perhaps longer, Elsa played around with her powers. She paid no attention to her surroundings, so completely immersed was she in her play, that she didn't feel the hot breath on her shoulder until the very last second.

Elsa snapped out of her reverie, twisting her wrist to the side and instantly shutting off her powers. The snow aura faded away upon command. Elsa snapped around to view her little sister, Anna, watching her raptly.

Anna whispered, "Elsa…you have snow powers?"

At that, Elsa swallowed hard.


	3. Chapter 2: A Sisterly Secret

Chapter 2

A Sisterly Secret

She didn't know what to say. Her heart pulsed slowly, it seemed, inside her chest, but it was truthfully very quickly. She felt the dull thud it made throughout her body: in her throat, in her chest, and her fingertips. Elsa's body heated in guilt and a delicate sweat broke in the miniscule crevices of her underarms. She felt her breath threaten to stutter, but she reined in herself and swallowed hard again. Her mouth was dry and swallowing did nothing to relieve the parched feeling.

Reluctantly, Elsa met Anna's eyes. Those big summer sky blue eyes blinked innocently down at her. A mixture of love and shame wringed her intestines into frilly knots and gift bows. For an instant, Elsa looked at her little sister and briefly recalled the infant she had held in her arms, cradling in her parents' bed on the first day of her life. So sweet, so innocent…did she really have to know? Was it truly best to tell her? Elsa couldn't turn back now, because there was no excuse she could use to cover her tracks.

"Elsa?" Anna whispered. She leaned her big head forward to better peer at her big sister. Again, Anna blinked and waited for her sister to answer. "Elsa?"

Elsa sealed her lips into a thin line. She felt the snow aura settle into her bones, deep into her marrow, becoming truly apart of her, more than ever before. Winter settled into her and cooled her mind and she composed herself. "Anna," Elsa whispered back, "I have snow powers." She bowed her head. "I know I didn't tell you—"

"See them."

The two words sliced through Elsa's present feeling and left her feeling bewildered. She lowered her brow in confusion and glanced back up at her sister. "What?"

"See them," Anna insisted. "Want see them."

Her breath stilted, catching in the tight trap of her trachea. "Oh..." Elsa breathed in disbelief. "Y-you want…to see my powers?"

Anna smiled, and, when she did so, it was like the dawn breaking onto a warm summer morning. Her face illuminated with the balmy joy and beautiful naiveté that was so much of who Anna was; her cheeks warmed with a demure magenta blush that only further heightened Anna's lovely warmth. Elsa felt her sister's sunniness melt away the cold of her oncoming winter solstice. The elder sister smiled in return up at her younger sister and nodded, continuing the motion until Anna opened her eyes and viewed her response.

"Come!" she murmured louder. Elsa patted the seat next to her. "Watch me."

"Okay!" Anna chirped brightly, though not too loudly. The little one was adept of sneaking around the palace and knew to be quiet so as not to be caught, especially when swiping sweets from the kitchen. Anna slammed her pudgy hands onto the window seat and kept them firmly there as she struggled into the seat. Elsa allowed the little one to lift herself, because Anna would only complain that she was big enough to do things herself. Leaning into Elsa's shoulder, Anna tilted her head up, smiled, and said, "Go!"

Elsa found herself quietly laughing as she raised her hands to cast a small spell of snowflakes. In that laughter was relief and happiness. She should have known that Anna would have accepted her, no matter the circumstances. However, it did not surprise her that she did. Anna was a small child and she did not yet know whether or not it was normal for people to have magical powers. Sometimes Elsa was not even sure herself. As normal for any child, Elsa had real fairy tales and ancient myths of witches, warlocks, demigods, and sorcerers who were gifted—or cursed—with great power. Some of those individuals chose to be on the side of good and some on the side of evil. In some small inklings, Elsa wondered on which side she would reside. She didn't yet know herself, but she had enough feeling to figure that she would be good. Elsa felt good inside. She thought so because her mother once told her that only good people loved and loved with all their heart. It was the bad people, whose souls were rotted and pitted by greed and lust for power and destruction, who had forgotten how to love and wanted only sin. Elsa didn't feel like that was her. She felt like her soul was a freshly picked apple from a tree, crisp and ready to be weathered by the world. When she envisioned bad people, she saw her souls as spoiled apple cores, surrounded by flies, maggots, and slimy things.

The spell formed itself, crawling into her hands and summoned by her snow aura. The cool-warmth spiked into tiny snowflakes and sprouted into larger ones, popping here and there as daisies do from the moist spring soil. Teeny sparkles caught the eye and twinkled and sung in the moonlight like sweet stars. All the while Anna's eyes had widened and were absorbing every bit of the scene. First, she had slapped her hands to her mouth in awe. Second, she tentatively stretched out her petite hands to touch the snowflakes. Elsa remained where she was and allowed Anna to touch them. It was a still-breathing moment, very careful, as Elsa revealed her deepest secret to Anna, who was still taking it all in. Gingerly, Anna rested a small fingertip to the largest snowflake and wondered at the cold. Then, the little sister pulled away her finger to look at the tip.

"It don't melt."

Softly, Elsa smiled. "No, it doesn't."

Anna glanced from her fingertip up to her elder sister and smiled in return. Her young, summer blue eyes glowed with curiosity. The young one tilted her head to the side and stared straight at the snowflakes in Elsa's hands. For a few seconds, Anna was silent as she thought, probably processing the fact of Elsa's powers. As she thought, her younger sister fiddled around with her fingers and bounced her knee up and down. Finally, she blinked, nodded determinedly, and turned back to her older sister. "Do more stuff?"

Anna seemed to have accepted her powers. This fact thawed the winter previously freezing Elsa's insides. Elsa nodded. "Probably anything."

"Can do?"

Elsa frowned and looked down at her pale hands. A small sliver of moon was present at the top edge of the room's triangle window. The moon's white-yellow light lazily drifted down from the sky and in through the window, casting a fairy glow onto the princess's hands. Elsa narrowed her eyes. Uncertainty swirled within her; she wasn't sure that showing off more would be okay. "I…I don't know..."

Anna scooted closer to her sister. Two small ginger pigtails stuck out from either of the back side of Anna's head. As she moved, Anna's ginger pigtails momentarily danced with the younger princess's clumsy movements. Fireworks of warmth exploded throughout Elsa as Anna swung her bitsy arms around her older sister. In the seconds that Anna's skin touched Elsa, Elsa felt the toastiness of her younger sister's flesh pulse against hers. The suddenness of the embrace both surprised and touched Elsa. Quite often Anna did sudden things, good, bad, and in-between. Most surprising was the drastic difference between Anna's and Elsa's skin. While Anna was practically scorching, Elsa realized the coolness of her body. It wasn't as if Elsa had hypothermia; no, only the first few layers of skin were extremely cool. Underneath her skin, Elsa felt perfectly warm. This phenomenon had been normal since Elsa's birth, something which occasionally disturbed Queen Idun and rarely bothered King Adgar. Overall, they seemed to accept that it came with her powers. Anna's ginger head propped itself up on Elsa's elbow, and Anna inclined her head up to better view Elsa. "Can do." Anna sweetly smiled. "Go and do."

Elsa's eyes widened. "Tonight?" Anna nodded. "Now?" Anna nodded harder, shaking Elsa's entire body with the action.

Anna's grin grew into the realm of sugary brightness. "Yep. Wan' see do."

Elsa bit her lip and turned her head to look outside at the nocturnal scene. Whilst she viewed, she unthinkingly observed the sliver of moon—distantly cratered with pits—shed its silvery light onto everything it saw. Snow had fallen the night before. As the day passed, the powdery layer underwent abuse from creatures large and small. First, in the early morning, woodland creatures crept through the dusty snow, some snuffling for food and others snuffling for buried treasures. Eventually, the cover of early morning darkness fell away into the brilliant robes of golden sunshine. The snow was trampled, jumped in, gathered, scattered, and flung by children and adults in their daily outside actions. Time ticked away upon its invisible clock, and the snow melted bit by bit until the crystals melded together. When the coming of night stripped away light and heat, the snow crystals cooled and hardened into a hard, thick layer. This layer was the layer that the moon shone upon. The silvery light made the hardened ice crystals subtly glisten as frozen gems caught in a cave's wall. Husky coats of flurries painted dark evergreen plants and shrubs and bedded the statues, the benches, and other structures in the palace's gardens.

Elsa was shaken by the haste of the entire situation, more than from just the vibrations Anna's nodding had sent through her. Her mind weighed the obvious trouble in which Elsa could place herself. If their parents discovered them, they would go down hard on Elsa. It wasn't because of preference for one sister over another. After the overhearing her parents' conversation, Elsa understood that her parents' fear would cause them to protect Anna for Anna's sake as for Elsa's own sake. Then, the child that Elsa was ached for the chance to show her sister how great her power was. She wanted to share the wonder of who and what she was with someone who fully accepted her. These thoughts passed through Elsa's mind faster than she could fully grasp them, mentally and metaphorically. She couldn't fully understand how her powers would ever hurt Anna, because they had never been a danger to Elsa herself. Finally, the child in her weighed stronger than the shadow of her parents' fear. She would show Anna, and they would have great fun.

Swiveling her head around, Elsa took in Anna with a newfound brilliance. She softly smiled at her younger sister. "You know what? Lemme show you what I can do." Elsa slipped her larger, thinner fingers through Anna's pudgy, midget ones. "I promise you it'll be fun."

Elsa focused on the snowflakes still hovering over her palms. The cold-warmth trickled down her spine-her spinal cord freezing and thawing as the feeling travelled—and spiraled through her shoulders and flowing down her arms into her hands. The snowflakes crackled a second before disappearing into deep blue sparkles that faded as beautiful night stars into the morning. Elsa raised her now free arms and wrapped them around Anna's petite form. Gleefully, Anna giggled into her ear, causing Elsa to pull away with a finger over her lips and a dainty, "Shh!"

Anna slapped a pudgy hand over her lips and attempted to suppress her giggles. Though she suppressed them, the younger princess's laughter still shook her body, so that Elsa could physically see Anna laughing. Anna's giggles were contagious and Elsa soon found herself sneakily laughing despite her previous warning. Elsa untucked her legs from underneath her, stretched them out, and quietly stood onto the floor. The older sister turned and offered a pale hand for her younger sister. Still snickering, the younger sister grabbed hold of her older sister's hand and found herself standing on the floor. Standing together, Elsa gazed down at her giggling sister and thought how small Anna seemed. In reality, there was not much height difference between the two. Elsa was about four feet tall, with Anna being two feet smaller than she. Once again, viewing Anna from such a perspective made Elsa's mind flash back to when Anna was only a tiny magenta bundle squirming in her arms. Many times Anna would cuddle up against Elsa in her royal blue sheets. Anna would mean to leave, but she would often forget and the two sisters would sleep together. As Elsa considered Anna, she thought of the pros and cons of the situation. The pros were that Elsa was able to be close to her sister. Many times they would play games with each other late into the night. Or Anna would ask Elsa random questions, sometimes about things to which Elsa had no answer (for Elsa only had so much worldly experience). The cons of sleeping with Anna were that she often snored and drooled. There was the occasional experience of waking up in the middle of the night with Elsa's entire sleeve damp from drool. Of course, such was the mixed bane-joy of having a sibling.

Cool hand tightly grasped a hot hand, which grasped a cool one. Their height difference didn't matter, for they more than made up for it with their love. Silently snickering, the royal sisters snuck from their room into the hall. Elsa made sure that the door quietly opened and quietly closed behind them. With that, they slunk through the halls, past their parents' bedroom, and stopped to momentarily snicker at their father's snoring. Then, the sisters moved on to the fancier part of the palace, where parties, balls, and other formal events normally took place. The sisters seemed to share an unspoken bond, for they felt that the right place to go was the Great Hall. Rapidly, two sets of little feet pranced through the halls and to the entrance to the hall. They climbed down several short sets of stairs, to the shining hardwood floor in the center of the structure. Now both girls were giggling to the point where they could be heard. Elsa hissed, "Shh!" at Anna, and they calmed themselves down. Thus, began their short sojourn down those short sets of stairs, until they finally reached the towering golden doors guarding the entrance to the Great Hall. With all her might, Elsa pushed past the golden doors and entered upon the hardwood floor of the Great Hall.

As the two sisters stepped foot onto that hardwood floor, Elsa felt the naked chill of the wood upon which she stood absorb into her bare feet. A normal person would have gasped in surprise—which Anna did indeed do—but Elsa welcomed the chill. She felt her powers stir in response to the sudden introduction of a drop in body temperature. Simultaneously, a rush of respect and awe spiked in her brain and was reflected in Anna as the younger sister glanced to the older as an example. Slowly, Elsa took steps onto the hall's floor. The princess was entranced by the darkness of that particular part of the palace. Usually, there were people running to and fro: servants, cooks, maids, and the like. In the present, it was empty, emptier than Elsa ever remembered it being. Perhaps it had something to do with the feeling of a place being smaller when filled with people. Then, she perceived the hall as being oddly lonely and slightly scary, but determination filled Elsa. If the hall was lonely, why not give it company?

Elsa's eyes wandered to the magnificent designs in the woodwork around her, mimicking the delicate rosemaling that was ubiquitous in Arendelle. Up spiraled the seemingly natural vines from the woodwork and into the ceiling. The walls were painted a pastel light green-blue that appeared a dark ocean green in the shadows. Upon entering the hall from the golden doors, there were columns on both sides of the room. Each of the columns was a very light brown and was paired with a column right next to it. Those pairs of columns created archways, between which hung red velvet curtains. The curtains were tied back so that the inhabitants of the room could explore the hall with ease. As Elsa glanced around her, her ice blue eyes were drawn to a silvery cross-shaped form of moonlight in the center of the floor. Elsa's eyes followed the moonlight up its source of rays and into the rafters, where there was built a grand skylight. Unknowingly, Elsa smiled and looked down at the floor again, marveling the palace's wonderful design. The last thing she truly noted was beneath her, underneath the shaped form of moonlight. The hardwood floor was decorated with subtle arrows of wood that created dark and light stripes and unidirectional arrows. In the center of the floor was placed one large diamond—another part of the wood's decoration—that was so patterned with rosemaling that Elsa could not comprehend how to describe it.

When she was finished taking in the room, Elsa turned her eyes to her younger sister, who was smiling knowingly up at Elsa. "What?" Elsa asked.

"You smile!" Anna giggled quietly. She pointed her finger directly into Elsa's face. "You smile! And you perty."

"Anna—" Elsa swept the toddler's finger out of her face. "—don't point in people's faces. Mama said it's rude."

"M'kay," answered Anna amiably. Anna dropped the guilty hand to her side and ricocheted her eyes around the large room. After a few seconds of observation, Anna's mouth dropped open and, Elsa was sure, felt overwhelmed by the sheer power and strength in the hall. "What use for?"

"Big parties, with pretty people in gowns and suits and wigs." Elsa stepped farther until she was in the center of the diamond. "Mama says we're not allowed until we're older."

"Guh-uns?" Anna fumbled, following Elsa's movement. The young one stopped by her side.

Elsa giggled and glanced down at Anna. "Gowh-ns. Really pretty party dresses."

"Ohhh 'kay. Me wear gowh-nns?"

Elsa smiled to herself. "Someday, Anna. Someday." She turned to her sister and knelt down in front of her. "Wanna see my powers?"

Anna slipped her hand from Elsa's to quietly clap in delight. "Snow please!"

Elsa giggled. "Snow it is!" The older sister spun her hands into a swirling spiral. Like a horses, the snow aura galloped down the fine nerves and bones in Elsa's spine. It gracefully jerked onto the tight corner of her shoulders and down the smooth slope of her arms, elbows, and her hands. From Elsa's fingertips exploded blue crackle fireworks. When those fireworks burst into blue sparkles, Elsa threw her hands skyward and cast her spell in the center of the skylight. The blue sparkles crackled further and split into sprinkling fireworks, which drifted down in the form of fine flurries. All the while Anna had covered her mouth with her hands and watched the snow drift down until it settled into a good, thick layer upon the hardwood floor. As Elsa created her snow and watched it drift down, she felt the euphoric rush of adrenaline pulse from her brain, into her heart, and through her veins and arteries. Every singular cell in her body felt the breathless crash of chemicals pounding through her. Anna was struck dumb for a second, but she fell back into the snow. A raucous giggle escaped her, and she did not care to cover it up.

Happier than ever, Elsa tipped back into the snow and sent a small wave of snow to poof up and fall onto Anna's face. Anna giggled even louder and began waved her arms up and down and her legs left and right, creating a snow angel. Elsa followed suit and was waving her arms and legs up and down and back and forth. Once the few minutes of this was done, the two sisters rolled in opposite directions, crawled onto their bellies, and viewed their masterpieces.

"Mine is small," Anna muttered. Her mouth dipped down into a grimace. "No am big."

Elsa pursed her lips. "Anna, getting big is a slow thing. But you're growing a little each year. You grew a half inch this past September. Remember?"

Anna glanced away from Elsa and buried her grimacing face into the pile of snow she had created from her furious arm-leg angel creation. Elsa crawled through the snow, feeling its cottony feeling cushion her knees and palms, and curled her arms around her sister.

"Wanna be big. Big big big!"

"I know, Anna, but it isn't fast. It's slow."

"Stupid slow. Stupid slow…"

Elsa squeezed Anna tighter. "I know. I want to grow up sometimes really fast, cuz there's so many cool things to do as a grown-up. But I kind of like my size."

Anna jerked her face from the snow and gave her sister an "are you crazy?" look. Elsa nodded in response to her unspoken question. "Yeah…I can fit under my bed, in the little spaces of the closet, in the kitchen cupboards. I'm really good at hide-and-seek, because nobody ever finds me. It's fun."

Al the time, Anna listened patiently and was slowly nodding by the time Elsa was done speaking. "Ohhh I hide under my bed too? And in 'boards?"

Elsa nodded, lifting her head up and smiling at Elsa. "Yeah."

Anna tilted her head back to look at the ceiling and think about this for a second. After processing it, Anna turned back to Elsa and grinned her semi-toothless grin (Anna was growing in new teeth). Elsa giggled in return and smiled right back. The lder sister leaned in and whispered, "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Anna enthusiastically clapped her hands. "Snowman! Snowman! Build him!"

"All right! But you've got to go get some snow for me."

For a good hour, the royal sisters spent much time in rolling around snow. They reshaped this part and that part, for they wanted their snowman to be the best one they had ever built. As she moved, Elsa's short braid cast forward and gently caressed her throat, and several times Elsa moved her white blond braid out of her way. Eventually, the two had shaped three spherical balls of snow, the biggest coming up to Elsa's waist and the smallest the size of Anna's head. "Stand back!" Elsa warned Anna.

Anna stepped back and watched Elsa work her magic. Elsa spiraled her wrists, their direction spinning towards the snow balls. Blue sparkles rained down from the places where her magic touched the snowballs. The snowballs lifted from the ground and hovered where they were until Elsa directed the biggest to the center of the floor. Then, Elsa stacked the larger on top of the smaller, and then the smallest on top of the smaller. With that, the two sisters had a snowman. Elsa glanced back at her little sister. The older sister's pale cheeks were flushed with excitement and her eyes shining from her enthusiasm. The life in her made Anna smile and trudge through the snow to her. Elsa wrapped her arm around Anna's shoulders and squeezed her close.

"What call 'im?" Anna asked.

"Good question…how about Spencer?"

"No."

"Bert?"

"Nah."

"Gregor."

"Nope."

"Westley."

"No." Anna thought for a second and smiled when she came up with something. "Kip! Like Kip."

"Hahah, Kip it is!"

For the rest of the night, Anna and Elsa played around in the snow until Elsa convinced them to return to their rooms. Elsa was not sure how to thaw the snow, but she felt that her gut had the answer. So, Elsa outstretched her arms skyward and breathed deeply. In and out. In and out. The snow aura dripped through her, then crashed into her, waning and waxing until the ice melted and finally receded. When Elsa opened her eyes, she was pleasantly surprised and greatly relieved to see that the entire hall was free of snow. After some marveling at her power, Anna and Elsa walked hand-in-hand back to their room. As they walked, they promised each other they wouldn't tell their parents about their snow night.


	4. Chapter 3: Nether Regions

Note:

Hello, readers. I would like to thank you for your patience in waiting for chapters to be posted. I extremely appreciate the amount of people who read and watch for more additions to this beginning story. Sadly, I must say that chapters will be out slower than usual, as you have observed with this latest one. I am a college student and my first priority is to my classes and to my job. I will work on the chapters as much as I can. I will have no set date for these chapters to be released. Just keep watching. I don't intend on giving up on this story.

In the meantime, thank you once again! Please continue reading and enjoy.

Love,

E.V. Black

Chapter 3

Nether Regions

She blinked her eyes and the daze of remembrance disappeared. As she closed her eyes, her long eyelashes came to rest upon the edges of her high cheekbones. The young princess wore no paints, merely bearing the appearance with which she was born. The singularity of her powers paired her with various other rare gifts, including a tolerance of the cold and her pale blond hair. Her beauty was another of those gifts, of all the most striking. Six-year-old Elsa had not fully grown into her body. Indeed, there was much height to be gained and the plumpness of childhood ripened her skin into succulent softness. Beyond those childish features was the potential for great beauty. Her cheekbones were acute but not so much to give the appearance of arrogance, merely for a refined elegance. Her eyes were large and expressive, but also heavily lidded to belay mystery or seduction (but not then, for she was too young for adult activities), paired with ice blue eyes that could freeze or thaw the onlooker (depending on the owner's mood). Her nose was small and pert, often pink from the cold, though she never felt it. Her lips were full, wide, and topped with a subtle Cupid's bow. Topping it off, her pale blond hair sometimes fluttered about her fair face or was tied back into a demure braid, paired with a light blue headband. Several times her parents—when they thought she was out of earshot—remarked on Elsa's blooming beauty. One day, they had said, she would call many suitors to her side. Being six, appearance mattered little to her, though she often glanced longer than normal in mirrors upon passing. She briefly examined her features, trying to see what her parents saw, but it was all for naught. As is the instance with any other, Elsa was accustomed to her appearance and, thus, saw nothing special within her reflection, only her normal self.

Orange sunlight penetrated through the thin membrane of her eyes. Elsa's eyes could view the fine, thin veins through her eyelids. It was disgusting simultaneously as it was oddly attractive. Seeing the delicate lines drawn into her skin strongly reminded her of the preciousness of human life. Gradually, the princess opened her eyes, feeling her pupils ache with the constriction to take in the light. Then, her long eyelashes brushed her top eyelids and she observed the world. Early in the morning, Elsa would sit in front of the window and take in the sunrise. She was young, yet she could sense the great meaning of a sunrise. To Elsa, it felt as a renewal and as rejuvenation—though she knew not those words at her age. The world, and its people, had a chance to start over. The sunrise was the world being reborn and gasping in its first breath, painting its cheeks with the fresh glow of reds, oranges, and pinks. Upon those sunrises, Elsa's soul uplifted into lofty heights and she felt deeply at peace and truly happy.

Elsa's ice blue eyes retracted to look at the construction of the rafters outside of her triangle window. The rafters were the lightest of blues, paired with gray bricks to support them. When the sunlight played upon them, the rafters and the bricks subtly shimmered in response. Viewing the rafters, a spray of silver-white caught her attention. She turned her eyes to fully view the spray, but it had already disappeared. The image left in her mind made her wonder what it had been. The adult response, which grew stronger within her day by day, rationalized that it had only been a morning dove resting upon the rafters. However, Elsa ignored that rationalization, because she knew what—or who—it was, though she dared not think the name. What would be, would be, as children do not question but merely accept; she did thus. Thinking, she instinctively smiled and redirected her view towards the sunrise. Whatever or whoever it was would always protect her. She knew because there were stories of them.

Since she was old enough to understand sentences, her father had regaled Elsa (and later, Anna) with the myths and legends of Arendelle's ancient land. One of those stories told of spirit guardians who protected the children of the world. Supposedly, there was a spirit guardian for each child, though Elsa doubted it.

"There can't be that many, can there? Where would they all come from?" Young Elsa had scrunched up her face in disbelief and looked up to her father. Dubiously she had crossed her arms and expected a reasonable answer. "God can't create them all, can he? Doesn't he have lots of other stuff to do?"

Adgar chuckled at Elsa's authentic question. "Maybe, but we don't know. God does many things." He tucked Elsa's bangs behind her ear and kissed the top of her head. "When people have passed—"

"That means they died?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Okay."

"When people have passed, their souls go to heaven. Sometimes a few special souls are chosen to go back to Earth and protect people."

"We can't seem them, right? 'Cuz they're ghosts?"

"Something like that. They don't haunt us though—they protect."

"But isn't that sort of haunting? Staying around?"

"If you want to think of it that way," King Adgar answered. "But they're good—they don't want to harm us."

"Who do they protect?" Elsa inquired.

"Sometimes their loved ones, sometimes strangers. They watch out for us all our lives."

"Can they talk to us?"

"Maybe…sometimes we listen, but sometimes we choose not to listen. Sometimes we have changed too much to listen."

"Do they ever get sad? If they can't be talked to?"

King Adgar paused and seemed to think. After a beat of silence, he slowly said, "Perhaps they do, but maybe they talk to other guardians. So, they're probably not entirely sad."

Elsa relaxed. She didn't realize how tense she had been. After her father told her of the spirit guardians, he tucked her into bed and pecked her head. Then, he went to join his wife in bed. Growing older, Elsa learned more about stories to realize that spirit guardians were akin to guardian angels, if not one and the same. Her mind wondered if she had seen hers, wandering and hiding about so it could not be seen. Truly, Elsa knew she would never know for sure what that spray was or if it would reappear.

Her mind wandered away from the subject of spirit guardians and instead became blank. Once again, it was winter and the landscape was slathered in whipped cream snow. This time the storm had been a friendly one, as friendly as storms ever are. The wind sang in the night, its voice wonderfully operatic and not canine at all. The snowflakes fell thickly but nicely, not heavily as in other storms. The wind was not abrasive or rude, as other storms were. From her window, Elsa viewed the early morning wildlife that entered the palace gardens. She watched as rabbits rustled about in the snow, as squirrels chased each other up and down trees, and as robins descended and eagerly jumped here and there and pecked at the ground beneath the four inches of snow.

Higher and higher rose the sun until it was again in its rightful place. Elsa felt a presence behind her, and the presence silently sunk into the window seat beside her. The older princess turned her head to view the young princess, Anna, now three-years-old. Fondly, Elsa smiled at her little sister. Anna crossed her small arms on the window ledge and rested her head atop it. Her head angled to the side so that she could view her big sister.

"Hi," Anna greeted. With that greeting came the innocent, darling smile that always thawed Elsa's heart.

"Hi."

Anna moved over until she was snuggled up against her sister. "Watcha doing?"

Elsa grinned, her pink lips stretching to the corners of her face. "Watching the sun come up."

"Why?"

"'Cuz it's pretty."

"Why's dat?"

Elsa motioned towards the horizon with her hand. "All the colors go into each other. They make new colors. Sometimes they look like flowers or rainbows. Sometimes the clouds go with it too."

Anna's eyes followed Elsa's hand and took in the horizon. As she listened to her older sister, Anna appeared to think about Elsa's words. Elsa could believe that Anna was able to see what she saw, though some of it might still escape her because of her young age. "It's pretty then." She glanced back over at Elsa for approval. Elsa nodded, looking out at the horizon.

For some time that was heavy silence between them. It was not an uncomfortable silence, just a thoughtful one. No words needed passing between the sisters. They could be different creatures. Elsa was quiet and Anna was loud. Elsa enjoyed sedentary activities and Anna always needed to move. Sometimes Elsa came off as cold, but Anna was openly warm. Elsa was careful and lithe in her movements, where Anna was awkward, clumsy, and somewhat confident in her stride. Elsa was pale and blond, and Anna was tanner and ginger-haired. However, there were many things that Elsa and Anna shared: their love for snow; their affinity for chocolate; their enjoyment of stories; and many other things. Then, Anna did not need to move; she seemed to sense that this was a time for reflection. Sometimes Elsa wondered of what Anna thought. Elsa hardly remembered what she, as a three-year-old, mused. But Elsa did not ask. They sat there until they heard the palace awaken. Faintly voices murmured and steadily accumulated until they were perfectly audible. Footsteps lightly treaded and increasingly built until there was a steady beat of feet every few minutes. Soon, the noise grew enough to break them of their peace, and the sisters looked to each other. They nodded to one another and slipped from the window to get dressed.

Elsa and Anna walked hand-in-hand through the halls. The younger, smaller sister appeared to be overtaken in height by her older, taller sister. The girls walked in sync, the older one setting the pace while the younger fell into her step. As they treaded the halls, the skirts of their jumpers swished against their knees. Elsa wore a larger, dark blue jumper with a black border that was accented by hand-embroidered with large green flowers and smaller pink flowers in between. Underneath her jumper, Elsa wore a lighter, long-sleeved royal blue blouse. Elsa's white blond hair was swept back into a single braid that rested upon her left shoulder. Upon her head was a black headband, in front of which her blond bangs had settled comfortably. Beneath the jumper, Elsa wore dark gray stockings and black slippers. Anna wore a small, dark green jumper, the border of which was black and hand-embroidered with similar large green and smaller pink flowers. Underneath her jumper, Anna wore a long-sleeved yellow-green blouse that very nicely matched her jumper. Anna's short hair was swept up into two short, perky pigtails that stuck out from either side of her head, held in place by black ribbons. Anna's appearance was completed by her light gray stockings and her black slippers. With the movement of her legs, Anna felt her stockings ride up and unpleasantly scratched against her skin. Anna would halt in the middle of the hall to scratch at her legs, but Elsa would say, "Anna, just stop. Ignore it and you won't notice it."

Bent over her knees, Anna furiously scratched at her dress, nearly ignoring her sister. It was when Anna lifted her skirt to scratch at the material bunching around her thighs that Elsa had enough. Firmly, Elsa took Anna's wrist and gently pulled Anna around to view her. "You're doing yucky stuff again."

Anna narrowed her eyes. "So?"

Elsa stared at Anna firmly. "Mama said to stop. It's unladylike."

"Whasa lady do?"

Elsa fought the urge to growl. Keep calm, she told herself. She doesn't know. "Ladies don't-as Mama says-'thoroughly inspect their nether regions.'"

"Whas 'in-spec'?" Anna asked. Anna's eyes had roamed from Elsa's eyes down to Anna's "nether regions" to continue scratching.

Elsa's grip tightened and she turned Anna towards her again. "'Inspect' means to look at very hard. You're doing it right now."

Anna looked wonderingly into Elsa's eyes. "I am?"

Elsa raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"Oh."

With that, Anna passionlessly dropped the skirt of her jumper and reached her hand out for Elsa's. Elsa jerked it away, screeching, "I don't want to touch your hand! Ew!"

Anna gazed down at her soiled hand and then back up at Elsa. "Is bad?"

Elsa's answer was Elsa backing away from Anna. Anna's eyes flicked back up to rest upon her tentative older sister and a puckish glint lit both summer sky blue eyes. Sluggishly, Anna stuck the soiled hand out into midair towards Elsa. Elsa squealed and ducked out of Anna's reach. Anna smirked and followed Elsa with her soiled hand. Elsa gained speed down the hallway, Anna gleefully jogging after her older sister. By this time, Anna was giggling madly and wiggling her hand about, threatening to touch it to Elsa. Elsa happened to dodge her little sister just in time. At first, Elsa was severely annoyed; however, what was annoyance soon thawed and melted away into enjoyment. Within a few minutes, Elsa was aimlessly running about the halls and howling her lungs out. Their tiny feet thumped against the carpets. They accidentally shoved past the servants and other palace employees, who smiled and were amused, paid no mind, or were annoyed (but didn't show it). Elsa continued the chase on longer for a few minutes. Her braid was a flashing and fiery whip that dashed behind her in the air. Sweat prickled in the crevices and pits of her body, and her lungs were heaving with the inhalation of oxygen and the exhalation of carbon dioxide. Very quickly, Elsa felt the beginning of ache in her muscles and she paced from a run to a quick walk.

Anna caught up to Elsa and touched her back. "Touch, touch, touch! I am touched you!"

"Eeeewwww!" Elsa screeched, just for effect and to give Anna satisfaction. It worked, for Anna continued her mad giggling spree. "Ew ew ew! Now I have Anna germs all over me!"

Elsa glanced over at Anna to see the younger one positively howling with laughter. Then, Elsa too cracked a smile and gave in to Anna's contagious laughter (which consisted of plenty of hiccups, snorting, and other gross, unladylike, and humorous sounds). The two only laughed harder and harder until the servants stopped to stare strangely at them. Elsa's arms were clutched around her midsection and she buckled over as her abdomen pulsed with the vibration of her laughter. Anna fell back onto the floor and rolled around, tears escaping her eyes and fists fervently beating the rug. Meanwhile, some of the servants had paused to watch them. Some shook their heads in amusement or exasperation or a little bit of both. Others whispered to each other. One young girl turned her back on the scene and left to head down another hall.

With their sides reverberating, the girls were filled with so much glee.

"Girls." They continued laughing. "Girls."

Elsa managed to pry open her eyelids to peer up at the source of the soft but firm voice. A pale face-framed by a gentle halo of golden blond curls pulled back into a loose bun-gazed down at her. The woman's face was young, filled with the plumpness of older youth, and weighed down the sternness of slight disappointment. Though the young woman tried her best to hide it, Elsa detected the glint of amusement in the young woman's ivy green eyes. The young woman bent over Elsa, her knees touching the carpet, and tilted her head to the side. Her eyebrows were raised at the sight of Elsa and Anna. Upon seeing her, Elsa gasped mid-laugh, which became a hiccup, and rolled to her side to sit up straight. Then, Elsa, still facing the young woman, reached over, grabbed hold of Anna's flailing arms, and yanked Anan to attention.

"What?" Anna giggled. Elsa yanked her arm again, drawing Anna's further attention. Anna's freckled face looked up at the young woman and widened. "Ahh—oh," she gasped, finishing her own laugh.

Upon sight of the young woman, the bout of laughter dissipated from both princesses. Still kneeling, the young woman folded her hands very ladylike in between her skirted thighs. "Girls," the young woman said in her willowy voice—which always reminded Elsa of a gentle breeze rustling through willow tree leaves. "Are you enjoying yourselves?" Her question was truly sincere, not the shameful, mocking tone that other adults might have taken in the same situation.

Nervously, Anna and Elsa slowly nodded and simultaneously chorused, "Yes, Miss Erland."

"I am glad of that," Miss Erland said, lowering her voice to a murmur, "but I am afraid you impede the flow of these lovely people." Miss Erland waved her hand towards the servants and fluttered it back down into her lap. The fluttering hand returned to once more demurely clasp the other hand, as before.

Elsa's eyes widened and reluctantly she nodded in understanding of the situation. The older princesses knelt forward more, distributing her weight, handlessly raised herself from the carpet. Anna's eyes travelled from Miss Erland to Elsa, examining her older sister's actions. After Elsa was standing and towering above Anna, Anna copied her sister's movements by rolling herself forward, failing to not use her hands to raise herself off the ground—she slapped them both down beside her and gruesomely rose off. Specks of dirt and hair decorated the front of Anna's jumper. Elsa turned and winced both at Anna's clumsiness and her appearance; Miss Erland was cool and expressionless as she watched Anna. Soon, both princesses were standing side-by-side in front of Miss Erland.

Miss Silje Erland was their governess and had been hired by the king and queen within the last year and a half. Miss Erland was an Arendellian whose parents had sent her to the local convent to be educated by the religious sisters. Once she was eighteen, Miss Erland was hired by the king and queen of Arendelle. The young governess's duties consisted of watching the young princesses and helping to tutor them, along with an older gentleman named Dr. Brustad. Specifically, Miss Erland was to teach Elsa and Anna to be proper young ladies. Right then, Miss Erland intended to teach them.

"Thank you, ladies," Miss Erland softly said, "for rising off of the floor." Her eyes roved over them, seeming to examine them for any imperfections. However, her expression was not unkind. "Would you be so kind as to enlighten me to the reason behind your…rolling romp?"

"Well," Elsa quietly began, "we were walking down the hall, having gotten ready for breakfast. And Anna—"

"My stockings itch!" complained Anna. "Couldn't help it."

"Anna, began scratching at her…ahem, regions." The dusting of a blush sprinkled itself upon Elsa's pale cheeks. Elsa averted her eyes from Miss Erland to look over her shoulder. This was a hard task because of the considerable height difference between them. "I got her to stop, but she started chasing me—"

"So much fun!" Anna interjected. Her face was once again beaming, her body shaking with ebullient laughter.

"—and touching me with her dirty hand." Elsa's serious countenance caught Anna's contagious mood, which infected Elsa's mouth and gave it the symptoms of smiling and laughter. Through hiccupping laughter and loud snorting, Elsa managed, "Ah—and w-w-we e-e-e-nded u-up o-o-on t-t-t-he flo-orrhh hahaaha!"

Once more, both girls doubled over in strong laughter. Meanwhile, Miss Erland cracked a small smile. She too found humor in the situation, but she was bound to do what she was hired to do. Miss Erland clapped her hands, something she had to do several times to get the girls' attention. Gradually, Elsa's and Anna's laughter faded and they sniffed and wiped at their eyes to remove tears. Both their abdomens ached from nearly doubling over in racking giggles. The princesses' attention returned to their governess, who looked at them with great amusement but mild disappointment.

"Your Highnesses," Miss Erland breathed breezily, "why I am I here?"

"To play with us?" Anna answered, brightly beaming up at their governess.

Miss Erland shook her head. Elsa tried: "To teach us?" Miss Erland nodded her head at this. "That is correct, Princess Elsa. I am here to teach you—the both of you—to be proper ladies. Of what do you think that consists?"

"Not having fun?" ventured Anna.

"No, you are permitted fun," answered Miss Erland. "What else?"

"No rolling around on the floor?" Elsa guessed.

"Good. What else?"

Anna seemed to catch on. "No laughing a lot?"

"Yes."

"No snorting," Elsa said. "Or running around the halls. Or being loud."

"Precisely." Miss Erland nodded. "A proper lady must be withdrawn, not willing to speak too much nor be too loud. A proper lady must know the correct situations to speak and never be rowdy. A proper lady must calmly go about her day, performing quiet duties and indulging in thoughtful activities."

Elsa and Anna stared up into Miss Erland's field green eyes. In those eyes was more disappointment than amusement. This allowed the girls to know that they could no longer feel that they could get away with their shenanigans. "I will not punish you," Miss Erland continued, "because you are growing up and are learning what is right and wrong. However, I expect you to use your best judgment the next time. For now, let us wash up and I will take you to breakfast."

The princesses of Arendelle solemnly nodded. Miss Erland's expression became slightly solemn. The governess hardly ever reprimanded them, but she usually did when it was something serious. Elsa knew that her and Anna's behavior was borderline atrocious. With graveyard silence, Miss Erland took the princesses' (clean) hands in her own and led them to the washroom. "And, no, I will not tell Their Highnesses about this," Miss Erland murmured. "It will be between us."


	5. Chapter 4: History Lesson

Chapter Four

History Lesson

Ushered in by Miss Erland, Anna and Elsa (now with clean hands) entered the dining room side by side. Miss Erland rested a hand on either of the sister's shoulders and patted them gently. "Go ahead," the governess murmured.

Elsa and Anna shuffled forward. Their eyes landed on their parents, who were seated at a long dining room table. The length of the table was meant for formal dinners, due to the expected placement of many guests. However, King Adgar and Queen Idun found it appropriate to sit across from each other along the horizontally long part of the table. They faced each other, Queen demurely sipping her morning cup of chamomile tea and King handling a seething cup of hot chocolate in a right hand and business documents in the left. When one was a sovereign, there were times when the work never ended. The servant waiting at the corner of the room, near the doorway, moved forward and gingerly guided the princesses to their royal parents. Their slippers shuffled softly once they landed upon the rich evergreen rug beneath them.

Queen Idun's light blue eyes flicked up to review the source of the movement and instantly brightened upon perceiving her children. Gracefully, Idun rose from her seat and walked over to her daughters. The mother bent down to view them at their level and smiled as only a mother could. Elsa thought her beaming smile, so full of love, was angelic. "My girls," Idun breathed. Idun wrapped her daughters in her arms and pulled them to her a loving embrace. How are you both this morning?"

Queen Idun pulled away so that she could better view them both. Elsa suddenly felt shy under the beautiful radiance of her mother's smile. The older princess blushed, looking down at her feet, but remembered herself and returned her gaze to her mother's. As Elsa was being taught, it was shameful for her to be rude, especially as princess and the heir to the throne. Sometimes, Elsa forgot. "I am doing very well, Mama. How are you?" Elsa's response was wonderfully prim and proper, but her words permeated with love. Elsa breathed softly and cracked a shy smile up at her angelically beautiful mother.

Idun rested a tender hand upon Elsa's cheek. "Simply wonderful, thank you, my darling."

"Are we going to eat soon?" a tiny voice whined.

The mother laughed and craned her head down to better view her youngest daughter. "And what about you, Anna? How are you this morning?"

"My belly's grumbly. Think s' mad at me."

Idun's smile further stretched across her face. Some, but not all, of her queenly demeanor had peeled away to reveal the person she was underneath the sovereign. "Are you very hungry?"

Anna nodded. "Very."

"How much?"

"Like I could eat a mountain."

"You can't eat mountains," Elsa hissed.

Anna narrowed her eyes and tilted her head up to scrutinize Elsa. "And why not?"

"Mountains wouldn't taste good."

"Why?"

"They're all rock and earth and stuff."

"Oh…is that good?"

"Impossibly not," Idun informed Anna. "It's full of bad things which would not properly digest."

"What's…dee-guest?"

"Digest, Anna."

"Diiiiii-geeest. Diiihhhh-gest."

"It means to break down."

"Huh…okay."

"In that case," Idun continued, "if we are so hungry as to want to consume geographical formations, we should get something in our bellies, shouldn't we?" With one last squeeze, the mother retracted from her children and became the queen. Idun lightly clapped her hands together and motioned towards the seats next to the king's and queen's seats. "Come, come, girls, let's eat."

Giddily, Anna started for her seat, but Idun cleared her throat. The sound made Anna physically slow down as she approached her seat. All the while, Elsa calmly made her way to her seat and slid into it. Anna heaved herself up into hers and crawled into a decent position. Idun settled back down into her chair, which was next to Anna's chair. As Anna settled herself into her seat, she ended up bunching and rumpling her jumper about her legs. She ended up revealing the gray of her stockings. Elsa glanced up at Anna and forced herself to bite back a laugh: Anna looked impossibly content as she settled into her seat. Luckily, Queen Idun noticed the situation (which would have surely appalled some of the servants had they seen) and leaned over to tidily rearrange Anna's jumper. When she leaned back, Anna's skirts were all in order. Queen Idun leaned in to whisper something in Anna's ear; Elsa had to wonder what it was. Whatever it was must have been input, for Anna nodded understandingly as Idun leaned back.

"Oh," King Adgar sighed. He released the papers in his hands and allowed them to flutter down into his lap. The king leaned forward and rubbed his head's temples with both hands.

"What is it, dear?" the queen inquired.

Adgar pressed slow, soothing circles into his temples. "The Samee and the Cartew are going at each other again. A large faction of the Samee are claiming that the Cartew have encroached on their lands. In return, the Cartew are saying that the Samee will not allow them access to the wild deer on the borders' forests, as per their agreement." He glanced up at Idun, his expression strained. "It's hard to decide what will appease or aggravate them, while keeping either side satisfied."

"Papa," Elsa spoke up, "why are they so hard to please? Don't they like each other?"

Adgar turned his head and rested his eyes onto his eldest daughter. "Not particularly, Elsa. A long time ago, the Samee and the Cartew lived in peace, when Olaf Kartsky first came into power."

"He was Arendelle's very first king, wasn't he, Papa?" Elsa wondered.

"Yes, he was," answered Adgar. "And a very good ruler at that. For some time, he fostered peace among the citizens of Arendelle, especially those who were quite reluctant to have him as a king. However, the peace was soon to be challenged. One of the Samee people had accidentally killed one of the Cartew people. Though it was clearly an accident, the tensions between the peoples exploded. The Cartew took the chance to pillage Samee villages. The Cartew, not expecting the attack, were forced to flee into Samee territory, which further infuriated the Samee. Kartsky was able to use his newly gathered army to step in and force a peace treaty between the Cartew and the Samee before things could get bloody."

"That's good, isn't it?" Elsa asked.

Adgar, lost in the story of history, smiled sadly and shook his head. "No. Unfortunately, people's hatred doesn't go away just after a simple peace treaty. Both sides, Cartew and Samee, reluctantly accepted the peace treaty, less for their 'alliance' and more from the new king's show of force. Throughout Arendelle's long history, the Cartew and the Samee have ever since been at odds against each other. They nearly went to war over increasing tensions over perforations of territory. The Samee were increasingly going to the oceans and the Cartew into the mountains. On the edge of a war, Queen Elspeth, your grandmother—"

"And your mother, right? I'm named after her!"

"Yes, she was my mother. The queen stepped in and, like Kartsky, once again forced the peace."

"But it didn't work. They're still going at it." Elsa's voice was sad. "Do you think they would ever go to war?"

Once again, King Adgar sighed. "I don't know, Elsa. It's possible. Tensions have been building for centuries between them, and war was stopped twice. If it does happen, it wouldn't be pretty."

"Adgar!" the queen hissed. "Don't be saying things like that! Not in front of them." Idun motioned her head towards Anna, who appeared to be blissfully ignorant, unaware of the conversation and instead focusing her attention on playing with her skirts.

Exasperated, the king splayed his hands out against the edge of the table. "And keep them in the dark? This is their kingdom, Idun. We can't hide the reality from them, one that they will someday inherit. The sooner they know, the sooner they can learn."

"Hmmph," Idun harrumphed, shaking her head. However, she had fallen silent, for she knew her husband was correct. They could no longer hide the troubles of the world from them anymore than they could prevent them from getting cuts and scrapes.

There was silence before Adgar continued.

"Idun, I'm going to have to have to meet with the Samee and Cartew leaders." The king pursed his lips.

Throughout the entire conversation, Elsa had been bobbing her eyes between the two adults. She could understand some of what they said, but some things were beyond her comprehension. Yet, Elsa did think it was sad that the two peoples, so close in proximity to each other, hated each other. The young princess pursed her lips and peered up at her father. "Papa?"

"Mhm?" he hummed.

The doors from the kitchen slammed shut. A few servants came in with the royal family's breakfast. While Idun attended to Anna, two different servants placed their breakfasts in front of them. Idun was given her usual simple breakfast of porridge with honey and apple slices and a mug of hot tea. The queen insisted on eating simply, so that she would better understand their subjects' way of live. Anna, however, had a much different breakfast: French toast topped with chocolate shavings, so hot that swirls of steam oscillated left and right. A mug of hot chocolate was placed by her plate. Idun and Agar only permitted Anna to have French toast two times per week, this day being one of them. Other times, Anna was only to consume porridge like her mother. In front of Elsa and Adgar were placed bowls of porridge (like Idun's), but Adgar's had orange slices on the size and had no honey. Elsa's porridge was topped with a scant decoration of chocolate shavings and sided with a serving of strawberries (from preserves) and a mug of unsweetened hot cocoa. Deeply Elsa inhaled her warm breakfast before glancing back at her father.

"I want to go with you," Elsa murmured inaudibly.

The king pushed his papers aside as he reached for his breakfast. "I'm sorry, dear, could you speak up?"

"I want to go with you," Elsa intonated, louder now.

Adgar and Idun halted mid-breakfast and jerked their heads up and around to view Elsa. "What?" Adgar choked out.

Elsa flushed but continued. She raised her eyes to meet her father's green-hazel orbs. "I'm going with you. I want to see what you do and help you."

Adgar's hand, wrapped around the spoon protruding from his bowl, dropped the spoon it held. The spoon plopped as it hit the warm, syrupy breakfast. "Why?" he forced out. "Why the sudden interest?"

Elsa's winter eyes frosted over. "Because I care about my home. I don't want anybody to be unhappy. I want to help you and them. Is that bad?"

Adgar was shocked but, as he listened to Elsa, cracked a gentle smile. "No. No, that's not bad. Quite the opposite: it's very good for you to be concerned." His smile pursed into a thin line. "But, because they're fighting, I don't know if it's good for you to go with me."

"But wouldn't you have lots of guards and stuff with you?" Elsa frowned. "They would protect us, wouldn't they?"

"I suppose—"

"Then, I should go!"

"Well…"

"Adgar," gasped Idun, "you can't seriously be considering letting her go with you, are you?"

Adgar's head snapped around to view his wife. Idun's cheeks were flaming a graceful magenta. Her hands were under the table, no doubt rolled into tight fists upon her lap. Always the lady. "Idun—"

"Adgar," she seethed gently, "you know how dangerous it might be—could be—for her. Are you willing to put her in jeopardy just for a history lesson?"

"Darling, she would be protected." Adgar's hands flew up into the air and motioned wildly. "Besides, I would need to bring soldiers regardless, to order the Samee and the Cartew. They won't listen to anybody but our family. If they see our soldiers, their fighting will cease."

"Might cease. There's a chance that it won't, my love."

Adgar's brow furrowed. The king was silence for several seconds, clearly weighing the disadvantages against the advantages. Finally, he spoke: "Idun, Elsa is coming with me. She needs to see how the world works, and she won't learn a thing by being shut away in this darned palace." The king lightly slammed his fist down upon the tabletop. "I want her to learn, so that she may be a better ruler. Is that so bad?"

The queen sniffed. "I'm still not pleased." She averted her eyes down to her breakfast. Idun scooped up a spoonful of honeyed porridge onto her utensil. She lifted it to her mouth but halted halfway. "You best make sure that she is safe. I won't forgive you if something happens to her." Then, that spoonful of porridge entered her mouth and the queen was silent.

Elsa softly smiled up at her father, who grinned back down at her. Then, father and daughter cast their eyes over to the mother and gratefully smiled. "Thank you," they chorused.

"You best eat all of your breakfast, Elsa," the queen returned. "You're going to need your strength."

Elsa nodded and tucked in to her bowl of porridge. Inside, the young princess was brimming with joy.


	6. Chapter 5: The Prophecy

Chapter Five

The Prophecy

"The company will go ahead of us," the king mentioned to Elsa.

The king and his daughter strolled out from inside the castle. The castle opened out into a wide courtyard, paved with the best cobblestones available. Servants were flittering hither and thither; some were in a rush while others took their time. Upon seeing the king and the princess, the male servants bowed and the female servants curtsied. If they were close enough, some of them murmured, "Good morning, Your Majesties." In acknowledgement, the king nodded towards them and politely smiled. However, Elsa brightly smiled towards and followed her father's mannerly cue by waving towards them. The servants nodded their heads to acknowledge Elsa's greeting, returning to work soon after they passed.

"Why?" asked Elsa.

King Adgar paused in the middle of the courtyard and turned on his heel. He lowered down upon his knees to better look at Elsa. Gingerly, he took her smaller hands in his larger ones and lovingly squeezed them. "Your mother is afraid," King Adgar began, "but fear cannot rule life. Fear only allows to view life from the side, leaving us unable to truly understand it. I take you out, partially against her wishes, so that you may be able to view the world with clear eyes and not through the spectacles of fear." Suddenly, the king halted to catch his breath, for he had been talking very passionately, and furrowed his brow. "Elsa, do you understand?"

Elsa nodded. The young princess understood better than the king knew. There were things—secrets—that one could never tell others. They were secrets that were shut away in darkest places of the heart. Elsa had never let on to her parents that she knew her parents' fear and frequently thought about it. More and more, Elsa played with her powers, and more and more, they became more under control. Elsa was aware of her parents' fear, and it lingered in her mind each time she created even the tiniest snowflake. Yet, their fear did not debilitate her but kept her pressing on, albeit with caution, to become better. She was better able to understand herself if she did not fear what she was able to do. King Adgar's hazel eyes peered with iron strength into Elsa's icy blue orbs. After a moment, the king's eyes softened and he blinked.

"Very well," he breathed. He lifted himself from the ground, dusting his jacket once he straightened. Adgar reached over his hand and offered it to Elsa. Elsa slipped her tinier hand into Adgar's and he squeezed it tightly. Father fondly smiled down at daughter. "Let us walk, hm?"

As they walked, Elsa craned her neck up to observe her tall father. His ginger-brown hair was handsomely combed back, but a few strands fell forward on one side to lightly frame his beige face. His hazel eyes flickered kindly here and there, taking in his subjects and his servants as they entered and exited the courtyard. King Adgar wore his formal wear, a coat of that era with shoulder pads attached with tassels hanging from his shoulders. The coat itself was dark blue, nearly black, bordered with a red floral pattern along the inside edges of the coat. The red floral pattern led down into a red sash, neatly tied around the king's waist. His coat's wrists were constructed from goal fabric rimmed with sky blue at the ends opposite the ends of the cuffs. Golden accents, in the form of chains and buttons, came to be pinned upon the top left side of his coat. On the right side were three medals of different shapes, all bronze, and all pinned to his chest with different colored fabrics. Finally, from around King Adgar's neck hung a medal, with a red ribbon, leading into the medal itself, which was a box-shaped cross. His midnight blue overcoats ended at his groin, from where on his black riding trousers were visible. The trousers were impeccably pristine and finely pressed, so that they were straight and creaseless, flaring out at his thighs and flattening out at his calves. His black riding boots extended to his knees, and the boots' heels clomped like a horse's hooves against the courtyard's cobblestones.

Elsa's eyes wandered to their surroundings. She further craned her head back to take in the castle spires that wound up to the sky. The young princess glanced behind her and scrutinized the rectangular roofs that contained triangular windows. The highest spire extended its tip in hopes of scraping the sky, though it didn't quite reach it. Elsa thought it was doing quite well in its attempt. Her father moved them to avoid running into some of Arendelle's citizens. Elsa was forced to refocus her eyes onto her front, whereupon she saw that the gates were open. Arendelle citizens strolled in and out, many of them important lords and ladies who had royal business with the queen. They nodded and murmured, "Your Majesties," while some took the time to halt and fully bow or curtsy. With that, they were back to their business.

To Elsa, it was wonderful to be heading into town without being surrounded by anybody else but her father. Though people bowed and curtsied to them, it still felt normal. As they entered the town through the gates, people spotted the king and his daughter. The people's reactions were varied: gasps and absolute glee; shock and shyness, which was revealed in quickly ducking out of sight; curiosity and approaching the two; excitement and happiness, shown by directly going up to the king and his daughter and speaking to them. Otherwise, the citizens gave the royals their space, as they did the others around them. The citizens were quite used to the sight of King Adgar, for he frequently went out into town on his own. Yet, the sight of the rarely seen eldest royal daughter excited them. Quite a many people paced over to Elsa to observe her and to adore her.

"She is very lovely, Your Majesty!" an older woman cooed to the king. "How have you hidden her away from us for so long?"

"She has been hard at work at her lessons, madame," King Adgar answered, glancing down at Elsa. Elsa gazed up at the woman with innocent ice blue eyes. "But she will be coming out more often with me, now that she's getting older."

"Is she?" the older woman wondered.

"Am I, Papa?" Elsa inquired. Confusion fluttered through her and flooded her expression. She glanced up at her father for affirmation.

"I'll work it out with your mother," the king murmured in response.

The princess's expression cleared and she nodded. Elsa wondered why her mother was so afraid of Elsa going outside. Part of the reason Elsa understood: there was danger whilst being among warring peoples. Otherwise, Elsa didn't understand because she was going to be in the town, where every citizen was loyal to her mother and her father. Instantly, Elsa's mind flashed back to the conversation she had heard at a younger age. Then, she understood: her mother wasn't sure if Elsa would keep herself or others safe concerning her powers. Understandably, Queen Idun's concern was valid, for the young are often prone to impulsivity. However, this was not such the case for Elsa. Elsa was beginning to test the limits of her powers, bit by bit and not all at once. She was aware that they could be dangerous, so she only tried things of which she was sure. Even now, Elsa was extending her aura down throughout her entire body. Her father couldn't detect it, for he wore gloves. Others couldn't detect it when they touched her because she wore a royal blue coat whose sleeves protected her arms.

Snow was present on the ground, with winter not yet gone. Elsa and Adgar had bundled up in their long-sleeved clothing to prevent a chill from sweeping into their bodies. When they headed farther into the mountains, they would put on their parkas. Their parkas were currently packed on their horses, which waited with the soldiers on outside of the town.

"Yes," the king responded to the older woman. "She is."

"Where are you headed today?"

"Business. I hope you don't mind, but we do must be going, madame."

"Of course, of course, Your Highnesses! Pardon my curiosity. I hope your business is successful."

Nodding to the older woman, the king tightly grasped Elsa's hand and gently pulled the girl along. As they neared the center of the town, fewer people took notice of them. The king and his daughter became comfortably apart of the fray, something that Elsa had never before experienced. It gave her a taste, even a short one, of what the daily life of a regular person was like. Walking through the town with her father, Elsa's mind was left to wander about what it would have been like had she grown up a peasant instead of a royal. What would her parents do? Would her mother weave and her father blacksmith? Would Elsa and her sister frolic in the mountain's meadows, instead of their beautifully manicured gardens and lawns, with their ornate fountains and statues? Would they she and Anna still be taught to be proper ladies? Would they marry peasant boys? Such a different future in store, just because of a difference in where one was born. To some, Elsa saw, rank was everything; to others, rank mattered not. Elsa's mother was an example of a person who cared, mostly to keep up the royal image. Elsa cared not, partially because she was a child and had yet to learn, but also partially because she truly didn't care. It made her wonder if she would come to care as she grew older. However if she didn't care then, she didn't think her thoughts would be much different from when she was older.

"Your Majesty!" bellowed a deep voice. Elsa and the king glanced towards a store. From the door of the door waved a formidably tall, heavyset man. He sported a dark brown beard and long dark brown hair tied in the back of his head. King Adgar pulled Elsa over to the man. Elsa's first impression was to be frightened of the large man, for he was quite tall and large. However, the man's face and appearance belayed him: his brown eyes were extremely warm and he wore an apron that was splattered with batter. Elsa glanced up at his shop's sign to see that the business was a bakery. The man bowed his head at the king, who bowed his head back in return. "How are you this fine morning?"

"Quite good! Thank you, Gustav."

Gustav's eyes roamed down to rest upon Elsa. "Well who is this, Majesty?"

"I am Princess Elsa," answered Elsa, offering a polite smile and a ladylike curtsy. Just as Miss Erland had been teaching her. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"A pleasure as well, Princess." Gustav grinned brightly and warmly, thawing Elsa's initial impressions with a demeanor that was akin to a furnace. "And, please, call me Gustav."

Elsa smiled at the man. "Are you a baker, Gustav?"

Gustav's eyes glittered and he thumped the outside wall of his shop with a hefty fist. "Aye, and a considerably good one at that. It's one of the greatest things I enjoy in life. Do you have anything you enjoy, Princess?"

"Well…" Elsa paused to think and couldn't come up with anything. "I don't know."

"Ah, don't worry, you'll find a love. Give it time."

"What can I do for you, Gustav?" asked the king.

"I had some input on the marketplace workings, Majesty. Some of your soldiers are taking advantage of mine, and other, shops. They claim that the food that they're hoisting is for the kitchens, but I don't believe that to be true. One of my boys—Klaus—caught sight of one of them munching down on the 'rations' near the stables."

"Hmm," Adgar hummed in thought. "Let's go inside and talk. Elsa." The king turned to his daughter. "Wait for me out here. Don't move from in front of the shop. All right?"

Obediently, Elsa nodded and watched as her father and the baker retreated inside. From outside, she watched Gustav and Adgar spirit into the back. A woman, possibly Gustav's wife, appeared from the backroom to watch the bakery's front counter. She caught sight of Elsa and waved to her. Politely, Elsa smiled and waved back, then turned back to the front. She folded her hands in front of her, watching the many different people pass by her: peasants, upper class citizens, and a stray few lords and ladies there. Some of them acknowledged Elsa with a wave, curtsy/bow, or nod here and there, while others hardly noted the identity of the young princess. Many people didn't notice her merely because of the marketplace's busy nature. People were flocking back and forth, some rushing and some strolling leisurely. Some pushed carts full of various goods or products, like food or fabric. Others peddled fresh flowers and handcrafted gifts and other items. Elsa found herself rapt with attention at everything, for she had never seen so much activity all at once. Her young heart raced within her breast.

Minutes passed as Elsa waited for her father. The young princess became rather restless. To amuse herself, she began back and forth on her toes, playing games with herself (counting how many differently colored clothing items she could find, checking off the various types of peddled objects she saw, etc.), and a few other things. Nearly to the point where she could hardly take it anymore, a few children—a boy and a girl-her age passed her. Their voices drifted over to her.

"…think it'll be like when we perform it?" the girl asked. "I rather like the effects!"

"I think it's stupid," the boy spat.

The girl's face scrunched into a hateful expression. "Well, you don't have to be in it, you know."

"I do," the boy grumbled. "If I don't, my mama'll have my hide. But I never wanted to be in any silly spring pageant anyways."

The boy crossed his arms, looking away from the girl to glare at the ground and shoving past some of the peddlers. They turned a corner and disappeared. Elsa's eyes narrowed and darted towards the shop. Her eyes trailed back to where she last saw the children. Automatically, her legs moved and followed where the boy and the girl had gone. Elsa turned the corner and kept close on their heels. More of their conversation floated back to her.

"…it will be lovely," the girl's voice fluttered. "Can you imagine? All the flowers and the butterflies there'll be?"

"Sounds like right girly stuff," the boy complained.

"Klaus, you are absolutely no fun!" the girl huffed. "Don't you ever use your imagination?"

"I do, Lise, but I don't dream up flowers and some such nonsense. I like pretending I'm part of the king's army, marching off to war." Klaus halted where he stood and thrust out an imaginary gun into the air. "I am the king's best soldier! You will fear my name."

Lise sighed and shook her head, causing her auburn curls to bounce about her pretty beige face. "Oh Klaus, you don't have any imagination." She craned her head up to view the town's clock tower, which rose up from the center of the marketplace, and widened her eyes at seeing the time. "Hurry, Klaus! We're going to be late!"

Lise snatched Klaus's hand, which was clenched around his imaginary gun, and yanked him along behind her. Klaus and Lise quickly paced their small legs through the marketplace, dodging adults and horses. Elsa panted as she attempted to keep up with the two children. Already, her heart was racing and a sweat had broken out over her skin. The accumulating heat of Elsa's body was only intensified by the winter wear she had donned for the day. Easily, Elsa wondered how these children could do this all the time. She was certainly having a hard enough time of it. Elsa too had to dodge adults and horses, nearly being trampled in some places and came close to losing Klaus and Lise. Luckily, the princess spotted them just in time and ran around a cart to follow them off to the side. Finally, the business of the marketplace faded away as they neared the town's residential end. Elsa was thankful for the oncoming silence, finally able to clearly think and pick her way around things.

Her ears pricked at the gentle hum of voices from the open space. Elsa came to a large outdoor courtyard, with a decent-sized schoolhouse residing at the very end. In the courtyard was set up a small, wooden stage. The stage was outfitted with blue-skied scene, maroon curtains at both ends, and various props that littered the stage area. In front of the stage were different types of chairs that formed the seating for the audience. Upon one of those chairs sat an older man, with a curling gray beard and cool blue eyes. He scrutinized the children (the source of the gentle hum Elsa heard) were meandering about onstage. They were clad in different costumes, some gray and green and others the outfits of nobility or royalty. Lise and Klaus were standing in front of the older man. Elsa sneaked closer, hiding behind a building, so that she could hear what was being said.

"…mother would be ashamed, Klaus," the older man was saying. "Your father too. They look forward to seeing this play."

"It wasn't our fault, Master Alme," Lise chirped. "Honest. My mother had some chores at the last minute. I couldn't leave her alone with them. She was baking her famous strudel."

Master Alme's bushy eyebrows cocked up. "Strudel, you say?"

Lise smiled and nodded. Obviously she knew that strudel was the man's soft spot.

"Well, then, that's a different matter. If you were helping her bake, then it was obviously needed. Go ahead and get changed, but be mindful! I will not excuse your lateness again!"

"Yes, Master Alme," Klaus and Lise sang in unison.

With that, the two children rounded the stage area and climbed the stairs. They disappeared for a few minutes. Meanwhile, many of the other children were occupying themselves by singing, dancing, or practicing their lines. The select few who weren't as dedicated sat on the steps, grumpily waiting for rehearsal to start. By this time, Elsa had figured out that the entire set up was for a play. About which, she didn't know, but it appeared quite good fun! Elsa dared to creep closer, hiding behind the corner of another building. After about ten minutes passed, Master Alme impatiently clapped his hands and shouted, "Enough dallying, children! Time to rehearse. Anja, Nils, step to the side." These two children were dressed up in costumes of royal garments. He motioned for ten robed children to step forward. "Now, you all remember the song? It is how we begin the play." His blue eyes flicked to a girl. "Hilda, don't be afraid to belt your voice. We want to be heard." His eyes shifted to a boy. "And, Jarl, please don't bellow. We can hear you just fine. Please begin."

The children glanced down at the music in front of them. Master Alme seated himself at a harpsichord in front of the stage and began to play the music. Simultaneously, the children opened their mouths and sang:

"Winter's gone and Spring is springing

Shines the sun with warmth of old

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Chapel bells are ringing!

We're done with being cold"

Elsa felt a soft smile sprout at the corners of her lips. She tiptoed closer to hear more, deciding to crouch behind the very last row of chairs.

"Flowers a-bloom with odors pleasant,

All of Arendelle is glad!

Mother Earth, we thank you for the presents!

Spring's good and Winter's bad."

At "winter's bad," Elsa frowned, which soon vanished as the rehearsal ensued.

"Winter's gone and Spring is springing,

Shines the sun with warmth of old.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Chapel bells are ringing!

We're done with being cold.

Brrrrr!"

The robed children exited stage left. Master Alme continued his directions: "Good! And exeunt group. Narrators come down stage, with confidence!"

At this point, Elsa began to understand that people didn't really think winter was bad. Often, too much of a good thing was bad, and that's how these children felt. Elsa found herself nodding in agreement. She peeked up from over the chair to view the next part. Lise appeared from behind the curtains and approached the edge of the stage. Her eyes flicked over an invisible audience, reading out and touching even the far corners of the courtyard. Elsa momentarily ducked. Then her pretty voice projected across the courtyard. Elsa stuck her head up to better hear.

"We celebrate spring,

We know once it's here,

The ancient troll prophecy

Won't come to pass this year."

Lise sighed, "Phew" and stepped back. From the curtains appeared Klaus.

Elsa's eyes narrowed in confusion. She had never heard of any "ancient troll prophecy" before. She stuck her head up even further, focusing her eyes in on Klaus, who sang next.

"What is this prophecy?

What did it say?

Well, that is the subject

Of our little play!"

"Where are my trolls?" The master impatiently clapped his hands once more. "I need my trolls!"

Giggling "trolls" tumbled out from behind the curtain, where they had decided to hide. Their gray-painted faces were pink underneath from their giggle fits. The trolls sang:

"Your future is bleak

Your kingdom will splinter

Your land shall be c..."

Elsa's brow furrowed. Your land shall what? What is it? she desperately thought. Get on with it! Meanwhile, the trolls' voices broke on the next word and they burst into all-out laughter. Their guffaws echoed throughout the courtyard. Some of the other children on stage were rolling their eyes, shaking their heads, or snickering at the giggling trolls.

Master Alme's face had grown red underneath his bushy beard. "STOP! Stop these shenanigans!" he bellowed. He pointed a finger at one of the trolls. "This is not some silly comedy, Nils Norberg. This is the Trolls' Prophecy. This could be our fate." One would have wondered what had the children in such tight stitches. The answer revealed itself when Anja opened her mouth and started doing gross things with her gum. Nils frenziedly chuckled. Alme's hand jabbed up at the stage. "Give me your gum. Take it from 'your future is bleak.'"

Anja spat her gum into her teacher's hand, and the teacher threw it to the ground. Then, he wiped his hand onto his pants. Nils grumbled to himself, while Anja took a steady breath (a goofy smile still spread upon her lips). Alme began the harpsichord once more.

"Your future is bleak

Your kingdom will splinter

Your land shall be cursed

With unending winter"

Elsa's heart froze in her chest. Her breath stilted and she listened more carefully.

"Good," Master Alme prodded. He motioned to some of the other children, dressed as flowers, forward. "Going on."

"With blasts of cold will come dark art,"

sang one child.

"And a ruler

With a frozen heart!"

sang another.

"Then all will perish in snow and ice!"

sang a third.

"Unless you are freed with a sword sacrifice!"

all three sang.

Elsa jerked her body up from behind the chairs and was leaning forward. Her mind was numb but was racing with only one possibility.

The first child hissed to the second, "What's a 'sword sacrifice'?"

The second muttered back, "Beats me."

"Quiet!" Alme snapped.

"But Frozen starvation is not today's fate!

Plus we have an EXTRA special cause to celebrate!

The most gracious, gorgeous, smartest, kindest, absolutely perfect...,"

cooed a fourth child, a boy.

"That will do," Alme sighed.

"Role model this land has ever seen!

Princess Elsa! I really love her!

Becomes our QUEEN!"

the same boy cried, cheeks going pink.

Anja jabbed her finger into the air and cried, "Look! There she is."

Eyes turned in Elsa's direction and the children immediately began to whisper. The boy who had cried his feelings out to the world turned magenta. He shielded his face from Elsa's view and retreated behind a maroon curtain. Still processing the pageant's song lyrics, the princess leaped back when she finally registered that she had been noticed. Master Alme had noticed Elsa too and rose from his position at the harpsichord. His boots clomped heavily as he pounded over to her. "Your Majesty?" he inquired. "Are you lost?"

Her mind was still numb and all she could manage was a slow nod. "Come. I will take you back to the square. Surely, you can't be out here alone." His white hair whipped in the cool breeze as he turned his head and trumpeted to his students, "Keep rehearsing! I expect you to know this when March comes." Predictably, the children groaned but, obedient, went back to work, but not without stealing a glance or two at their mysterious princess.

Master Alme led her halfway to the town square when Elsa heard Adgar's voice ring out. "Elsa! ELSA!" Two sets of footsteps, both light and heavy, neared them. Their owners rounded the corner, revealing King Adgar and Gustav. Adgar's eyes caught sight of Elsa. He breathed, "Elsa!" He bent down and threw his arms around her. "Where in the world have you been?"

Master Alme spoke up. "The young princess was with me, Your Highness, viewing my school's spring pageant." He glanced down at Elsa, raising his eyebrows. "Did you enjoy it, princess?"

Mutely, Elsa politely nodded and tightened her arms around her father. She buried her face into his scratchy overcoat and heaved a sigh. She let all her feeling go, all her trembling into his body. Her father mistook her trembling at being caused by her fear of getting lost. "Don't worry, my love," he murmured. Adgar's hand came to rest atop her head. Gingerly, tenderly, the king stroked his fingers through his daughter's soft white-blond locks. "You're here. You're safe. Nothing will hurt you."

"S' always scary, getting lost," Gustav put in. Elsa pulled herself away from her father's embrace. The king rose to standing, eyes still fixed upon his daughter. "Never know where you're gonna end up. Luckily, Master Alme here is a good man. And knows all the routs. Isn't that right, Alme?"

Alme nodded. "Indeed. I've mapped the country of Arendelle several times and-"

"I hope you don't mind, gentlemen," the king interjected, "but the princess and I must be going. We have some business to attend to that, unfortunately, can longer be put off." Adgar glanced at Gustav. "I hope the palace's guards cause you no more trouble. I assure you that the issue will be resolved."

Gustav bowed his head. "Of course, Your Majesty. Thank you."

Adgar's fingers twined with Elsa's and gripped her tightly, pulling her along after him as they began to walk. "Thank you, gentlemen, for assisting us. I wish you a pleasant day!" the king called.

As the king pulled Elsa along, a cold shiver cascaded down her spine. The children had referred to a prophecy, made by the mythical trolls that lived on the mountains. The prophecy, as they had sung, referred to a frozen-hearted ruler that would plunge Arendelle into eternal winter. As far as Elsa knew, there were no members of her family who could cast Arendelle into ice and snow. The only person was her, the royals' eldest child and, thus, heir to Arendelle's throne. Added to that was the fact that she had powers over winter. Numbness, caused by both feeling and her cold, spread throughout her entire body. It was as if she had doused herself in an ice cold bath. Goose bumps popped up all over her skin underneath her warmth winter clothes. Her legs pumped harder just to continue a normal pace with her father. Snowflakes sparked off her skin, though neither she nor her father was aware of the happening. It was so inconspicuous a thing, that no passersby noticed either.

Undoubtedly, Elsa knew that the prophecy referred to her.


End file.
